Cost of living

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616750#Comment_118616750

What do you say to the COs and taxi people and cleaners, etc? Should they just be forced to accept a **** standard of living because.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616762#Comment_118616762

Well you dont live on 224 a week if your spouse has income too.

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616762#Comment_118616762

I am sorry that you do not have more. I take my hat off to any carer. It is a bloody tough job!

would you be happy to sell your house? Do you think that it is fair?

BattleCorp1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616715#Comment_118616715

It's not just bricks and mortar though. My Mam lives in a street where she has very good neighbours, i.e. a support network. Never understimate how much a support network like that is worth to an old person.

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616788#Comment_118616788

Loneliness and social isolation are extremely detrimental to an older person’s mortality risk (see TILDA study).

I do not think that it is too much to ask for some heating, food and public transport. These are non-negotiable

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616098#Comment_118616098

Insightful, maybe, but I have to be honest - I don't think she has grounds for complaint - or an increase.

She has a tax free cash into her hand income of €307 per week, no mortgage, if paying council rent its probably the minimum for a single person (€35 a week), no home insurance costs, and as over 70 a medical card for GP / Prescriptions. €35 per month already off her energy costs. Free TV Licence.

Mobile plans these days can be gotten for as cheap as €10 a month.

How much does tea, milk and sugar cost for one person, for one week? How many sliced pans @ €2.49 can one person eat in a week? Sorry, but treating your 13 grandkids and 3 great grandkids is your own business.

She is not living in poverty. There are many working families a lot less comfortable.

These "poor me, look how bad I have it" articles - when they really haven't - annoy me.

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616768#Comment_118616768

CO's like myself? I don't have a **** standard of living.

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616802#Comment_118616802

But if you start clocking up the ESB, heating, phone bill, internet, sky (lots of older people do not use the internet streaming service), tv licence, big collection, car insurance and tax, home insurance, home maintenance (if you own it, you have to pay when your boiler breaks down), house alarm, clothes and then food, it is quickly absorbed. I think that everybody needs little treats, like getting a takeaway or going to the zoo. It gives life a bit of colour

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616816#Comment_118616816

I looked at the pay scale. €1,800 take-home pay if you are living in Dublin and paying rent is a tough gig.

Outside Dublin, or living with the parents may make it more manageable I guess

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616788#Comment_118616788

Other streets have nice people living in them too. They aren't solely living on one street beside your mum.

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616834#Comment_118616834

Imagine asking somebody in their 70s to leave behind everybody they know and make new friends. It would not be easy. It is what you are used to

Madeoface

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616701#Comment_118616701

I'm a little bemused by all the bruhaha in the media about heating etc. I just did a claim for a working from home allowance and was shocked to see that my annual electricity and gas consumption went up by....€42 this year....in total. Roughly 3%. With me working at home for 4 months longer than in 2020. Same provider. No special deals, its a dual deal available to everyone. We live in an urban 3 bed semi.....4 of us in it, so a lot of consumption in general. Only 2 rooms insulated properly so its pretty far from energy efficient. The trick - putting more clothes on during cold days...being more conscious of heating one room and not them all, using timers on immersion etc.

I tend to agree with pensilsharpener, using the oven?? FFS. Me and my housemate did that once over a weekend when the oil heating in a rented house burst -this method of heating by oven doesn't work - and you find that out fairly sharpish!! You can buy plug in oil heaters that are actually quite good for less than €40 that will heat a room very successfully (I'm using one now on a 700W setting with the dial almost on the minimum and its cosy, on a pretty cold day too). And you can buy them with supplementary welfare payments if you are in a truly dire position.

Now the cost of diesel on the other hand.....

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616777#Comment_118616777

Why would you sell your house? You’ve gotta live somewhere. I already told you to get in touch with seai. Your parents definitely qualify for 100% grant. Get in before the queue gets too long.

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616829#Comment_118616829

I gave my details earlier on. I make E35k a year and rent in a house share in a suburb of Dublin. I'll go out tonight after work and get pissed, I'll head out tomorrow after football and get pissed. I'll stay in bed Sunday recovering and then back to work for the week, then out Friday and Saturday again. Some nights I'll cook, others I'll get takeaway. I won't make a budget and some weeks might have to stay in of a Friday if I've gone mad the weekend before.

Cost of living is just another whinge for the sake of whinging.

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616855#Comment_118616855

One of the posters suggested that my mother should sell her house and move into an energy efficient house.

look, I am just using my mother as one, amongst countless examples. People are really struggling to live here

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616837#Comment_118616837

They're 70, not vegetables, give them some credit. They've been through a lot worse in their lives than having to make new friends.

Ahherelads2022

Imagine being on low income, high enough to not get government support but low enough to have to scrape through the week to keep things together. Then you seen a family decide it's easier to not do that and get it all for free (payed for by you)

Thats Ireland today.

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616858#Comment_118616858

what if you plan to have kids? Or want to save for a deposit?

BattleCorp1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616834#Comment_118616834

Anybody saying the answer is simply to sell up and move to a better house because it's only bricks and mortar at the end of the day isn't in touch with the reality of the situation.

There may be occasions where it is possible to sell with no negative outcome, but for the vast majority of people, it isn't practicable and in some cases it isn't possible.

Yes, other streets have nice people living in them but they are strangers to someone moving into the street. And strangers aren't normally as helpful or trustworthy as people you've lived beside for the last 50+ years etc.

And then what if the house the old person is living in is in poor repair with a sh1te BER. How do they sell that and move into a nicer house with a better BER? Surely the cost of the nicer house with the better BER will be more than the sh1te house is worth? And how many banks give mortgages to old people with no disposable income?

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616864#Comment_118616864

I hope that when you reach that age, having worked until 67, you will be happy to up sticks and just move to some random, cheap area of town and to start afresh!

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616874#Comment_118616874

In relation to kids, that's a bridge I'll cross if it happens. Deposit? I can't afford one in Ireland, plan is to have a decent private pension and AVC and buy abroad in a few years once I've figured out where I want to retire to, Spain and Portugal are on the radar at the moment, but the way the EU is going Poland is on the back burner. Imagine that, I'll have to leave the bosom of where I'm from.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616820#Comment_118616820

Free TV Licence comes as part of the Household Benefits Package. Black bin maybe once a month for a single person? (I think I pay €18 a month for bins).

Car insurance and tax - €100 a month? That's if an 85 year old is still driving. No home insurance, if in a council property. €50 on average if in a private house?

TV and internet packages can be got fairly reasonably too. And how many clothes does an 85 year old buy?

What I am saying is - this person in the article with €307 per week cash, has enough means to cover all these costs. There should be no need for them to be rationing heat.

IME, many pensioners are overly cautious, and frugal to the point of meanness. They would rather go cold than actually pay the heating bill, and horde the cash.

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616883#Comment_118616883

As per above, my plan is to move abroad. So they won't even be the same nationality as me *SHOCK HORROR*!!!!

jo187

One of the biggest problems is rent. Once again the government have done noting to help with this.

They did nothing in the budget either. Seems bizarre. They basically the election on this and will lose the next one on it too.

Before anyone says anything here simple things they could do:

Rent Freeze

Tax back of some kind for renter's.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616773#Comment_118616773

Youre right that’s just my worth. But if I add their money to mine, take off the mortgage and divide by 2 then I have 280ish p/w

So the pensioner in the article with 315 and no mortgage is still better off than me. Is she really struggling?

Yeah im spending more money on fuel and electricity and some food items but I’m not gonna starve or freeze. I’m just saying people need to adapt rather than the outcry of “eat or heat”

The ones who probably are feeling the pinch are working and have high accommodation, high childcare and high transport costs.

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616903#Comment_118616903

My point is that you got into the civil service, so I am presuming that you obtained a third-level qualification. You should be able to buy somewhere to live and have kids if you wish.

Be careful buying abroad. It is great if it works out. But do your homework. I know a few people that got burnt.

Hopefully, by the time your retire, we will have rectified the situation and you can live at home if you want to

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616930#Comment_118616930

It is a fair point. I think that it is the disparity that is making people bitter, PencilSharpner. It is people just above the threshold that are noticing an appreciable decline in the quality of living that are objecting

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616916#Comment_118616916

There is a difference between choosint to move abroad versus being forced to move abroad.

Let me guess, you are in your late 20s, early 30s. You may find a life-partner, have children, experience Ill health, bereavement. It may all change your views on moving abroad when the time comes

Lowering the monthly limit on the Drugs Payment Scheme to €80 per month is an absolute **** disgrace.

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118617010#Comment_118617010

It makes me so angry when I hear it people not taking their medicines because they cannot afford them. It makes me feel like we are failing them